VOC / BATAVIA silver and gold boxes
Item #DUT0007
Extremely rare, mid 1700's or even older, Dutch East India Compagnie (VOC) / Batavia silver and gold boxes, which were once part of a bigger exclusive sirih box, to store ingredients of the betelplum, like tobacco, gambir and pinangnut.
Material:
Silver with gold leaf on top, engraved at all four sides with a floral 18th century flower motif (Javanese style), and the goldwork is richly embossed/engraved in a mixed Western / oriental style, typically for the silversmiths in Batavia and the Coromandel coast during the VOC period.
Dimensions respectively:
Length 7 cm / 4,4 cm,
Width 4,1 / 3 cm,
Height 3,1 cm (both).
Provenance: Dutch trade market.
Additional info:
It is interesting that gold is used in these objects, since virtually no examples of gold betel-chewing equipment now survive.
Most sirih-boxes have lost their original interiors, sometimes being converted to jewellery boxes or fitted out as tea chests.
